Prime Minister Modi on Tuesday met well-known stockbroker Rakesh Jhunjhunwala. The Prime Minister tweeted, “Delighted to meet the one and only Rakesh Jhunjhunwala…lively, insightful and very bullish on India.”
Delighted to meet the one and only Rakesh Jhunjhunwala…lively, insightful and very bullish on India. pic.twitter.com/7XIINcT2Re
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) October 5, 2021
So, who is Rakesh Jhunjhunwala? We probably asked the wrong question, because he is not some unknown person. He is known as a stock market expert throughout the country and so what we should know is what makes Rakesh Jhunjhunwala so special? After all, the Prime Minister described him as “one and only Rakesh Jhunjhunwala”. So, he has to be someone extraordinary to be described in such a special way.
“Warren Buffet of India”
Jhunjhunwala isn’t any other stock market investor. He is called the “Warren Buffett of India” and the “King of Bull Market”, which is a tribute to his ability to make accurate stock market predictions. Presently, he has a net worth of a whopping $5.7 billion.
A Chartered Accountant by profession, Jhunjhunwala had started investing in the stock market right from his college days itself. The ace stock market investor made his first big notable investment in 1986 when he purchased 5,000 shares of Tata Tea at just Rs 43. Three months later, the share prices shot up to Rs. 143, giving over a three-fold profit to Jhunjhunwala. Over the next three years, Jhunjhunwala earned Rs. 20-25 lakhs out of this investment.
Rakesh Jhunjhunwala’s journey from bear to the big bull
Believe it or not, Rakesh Jhunjhunwala was once a bear in the Harshad Mehta days. He admittedly made a lot of money short-selling in the post-Harshad Mehta era. However, in the succeeding decades, he turned into the big bull of India’s stock market.
Today, Jhunjhunwala has an impressive portfolio of 37 stocks including Titan Company, Tata Motors, Crisil, Lupin, Fortis Healthcare, Nazara Technologies, Federal Bank, Delta Corp, DB Realty, and Tata Communications, with a combined net worth of Rs 19,695.3 crore. His ‘Titan’ investment leads the chart at Rs 7,879 crore, followed by Tata Motors with Rs 1,474.4 crore and Crisil at Rs 1,063.2 crore.
Jhunjhunwala is “very bullish” on India
PM Modi got it right. Jhunjhunwala is indeed quite bullish on India. He believes that annual equity returns will be about five percentage points with a healthy economic growth of 7%-10% in the coming years.
He is relying heavily on the baking sector and healthcare for his predictions. Jhunjhunwala also believes that Prime Minister Modi’s welfare schemes like proper houses for all urban households and access to clean water will create a broad consumer rally boosting growth numbers.
Jhunjhunwala said, “We are in the middle of a bull phase which will last for a very, very long time”. The billionaire investor added, “India will also look lucrative when the U.S. Federal Reserve begins to withdraw stimulus, but there will be short-term disruptions.”
Jhunjhunwala’s future plans and other interests
The ace investor has some really ambitious plans. He is looking to invest $35 million to launch a very low-cost airline Akasa Air. The airline will have a fleet of 70 aircraft within the next four years with 180 passengers in each aircraft. Jhunjhunwala told Bloomberg that he is “very, very bullish on India’s aviation sector in terms of demand”.
The billionaire investor does have interests outside the stock market too. He is a major philanthropist and gives away 25 per cent of his earnings in charity. Apart from this, he was also involved in the production of ‘English Vinglish’, a Hindi movie.
Jhunjhunwala is indeed a very special personality. He epitomises risk-taking, which enabled his dramatic rise despite a middle-class family background and this is exactly what seems to have prompted PM Modi’s words of appreciation for Jhunjhunwala.
